Featured Friday || Sablewood Paper Company

June 1, 2018

Sablewood Paper Company is a custom calligraphy, invitation, and design studio located in Seattle, Washington (but serving clients worldwide!). Sablewood Paper Company specializes in creating heirloom wedding invitations for their clients, day-of pieces that pop and speak to the couple’s great taste, and special keepsakes for after the wedding (talk to me about getting your vows calligraphed for your first anniversary!).

I met Holly, the face behind the name, a month ago while in Seattle for a Styled Photo session (check it out here!) Holly made photographing her items so incredibly easy. Not only are her pieces stunning, she has a very talented eye for styling, too! Holly, like me, made a cross country move. She moved from Florida to Seattle!

What is the inspiration for your business? How did you get started?

“The inspiration for my business comes from so many places: my passion for calligraphy and my lifelong love affair with paper, my obsession with European architecture and history, and a strong desire to create special pieces for my clients that they’ll treasure for the rest of their lives. I love heirlooms and keepsakes and it’s my goal to create these for my couples.

I started Sablewood Paper Company when I was working as a professional graphic designer. I realized I could marry calligraphy and graphic design into invitation design and more, and I was hooked. I’ve expanded a lot since 2015, but my core business is still the same: create beautiful pieces for the discerning couple.”

I loved Holly’s response to my question about her best advice for the bride-to-be. Holly’s advice for brides-to-be is to keep a daily journal to document the process, you can reminisce with it later and to think realistically about your budget. The graphics on Pinterest about how much money you should be spending on certain aspects of your wedding are very misleading. 100 invitation suites will likely cost you at least $1,000, and that’s before postage!

What is your favorite thing about a wedding day?

“My favorite thing about the wedding day is easily the ceremony. I love that no matter the ceremony type, there is so much tradition steeped in marriage. The words of love spoken, whether they’re repeated after an officiant or they were written on a cocktail napkin by a nervous-excited groom right before the ceremony, it’s such a beautiful time in the ceremony. Vows always give me chills and I always take that time to not only reflect on the union happening right in front of me, but my own marriage to the best guy ever! (I also love seeing guests take pictures with my welcome signs or seating charts — it’s the best compliment ever!)”

What are your goals for 2018?

“Shockingly, I’ve already accomplished 90% of my goals for 2018! (I know, how often does that happen?!) My next big goals are under wraps because I like surprise launches, but I can tell you that some of my non-secret goals are to build out my office in our home (when we find the perfect one!), do more networking, and take downtime to travel instead of spending so much time in front of my screen.”

What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?

“My greatest fear is not being able to do what I do—a fear that I’m currently realizing after a car accident broke my right thumb (yep, on my writing hand). I’m unable to do much more than peck at keys on a keyboard, it takes two hands to operate a mouse, and forget about holding a pen (let alone writing with one). For someone that designs on a computer and writes using a calligraphy pen, that’s the scariest thing that can happen to you! Luckily, I’ll only be in a cast for 4 weeks and physical therapy for a few weeks after that, but losing the ability to do what I love to do is absolutely my biggest fear as an artist and business owner.”

Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most? And why?

“That’s a tough question! In addition to the amazing and supportive community of wedding professionals in Seattle, I have great admiration and respect for wedding planners. I’m an organized person myself, but there’s so much more to being a planner than that! You have to be a sounding board, therapist, planner, vendor collaborator, and more…and do it all while being available 24/7! It takes such a great and special person to excel at a career like that.”